They would ask me what actors I saw in the roles. I would tell them, and they’d say “Oh that’s interesting.” And that would be the end of it.
--Elmore Leonard, in 2000, on the extent of his input for Hollywood's adaptation of his novels

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Bathsheba Monk's "Nude Walker"

Bathsheba Monk is the author of Now You See It ... Stories from Cokesville, PA.

Here she picks the cast for an adaptation of her recently released novel, Nude Walker:

My first option is to have James Franco write the screenplay, direct and play all the parts, because I would really like to see how far he can stretch, and I’m sure he’s curious too, but if that can’t happen because of prior commitments, I would like him at least to play Jenna, the Bible-thumping-tattoo-covered sensualist, who is the “other woman.” Ryan Reynolds is my idea of the Steady-Eddy who everyone wants to marry so he would do a bang-up job as Duck Wolinsky, but I can see him as a guy who would secretly screw around, too, and isn’t that Duck to a T? Jake Gyllenhaal can play Max, mostly because, like Max, he’s so handsome and I would love to meet him and I’m pretty sure they let novelists on the movie sets. Or are they considered a nuisance because they bring autograph books? Jennifer Lawrenceis Wind Storm, the half-Native half-Swedish beauty who can roll a log. Ms. Lawrence looks pretty athletic to me so I’m sure she’s up to it and her cool blond beauty is totally Wind. The Nude Walker of the title, Barbara Warren-Bineki, has Meryl Streep written all over it. If Ms. Streep can play Julia Child who is a good foot taller than she is, I’m confident in her ability to play someone who is twice her girth. It would be totally ironic if she dusted off that Polish accent of hers for the roll. If not her, Alec Baldwin. And lastly the leading lady, Kat Warren-Bineki: Is it possible to be too good looking? I’m talking about Anne Hathaway of course. I mean Kat is smart and beautiful, but I sort of had a more sardonic personality in mind, like Emily Blunt. And actually, when I saw the movie Easy A, I gasped when I saw Emma Stone and said, “Oh. My. God. That’s Kat!” But if Ms. Hathaway (may I call you Anne?) wants to hip-check those two out of the way, Kat is hers.

“Compared to a novel, a film is like an economy pizza where there are no olives, no ham, no anchovies, no mushrooms, and all you’ve got is the dough.”
--Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin